By now you’ve undoubtedly “heard” the primary gimmick of this Academy Award winner is that it is a silent movie — lots of music, but no spoken dialogue. It’s a period piece shot in black and white to boot. And it was made by the French.

But despite all of these potential pitfalls, this brilliantly simple film has justly earned all of its accolades. Not only did it win the Oscars for Best Picture and Director, but magnetic leading man Jean Dujardin picked one up as well for Best Actor.

Dujardin plays the biggest movie star in the silent movie era; a kind of mute George Clooney. He’s the toast of Hollywood and loving every minute of it. In the process, he befriends an aspiring actress (Bérénice Bejo) trying to break into the business. Within a shockingly short period of time their fortunes have reversed, with Bejo rocketing to the top of the industry as the “talkies'” ingénue while Dujardin struggles to cope with his rapid irrelevance in the brave new world of movies with sound.

It’s impossible not to be charmed by this love letter to the early days of American filmmaking and the unbridled enthusiasm that bursts from every frame. It proves, almost as if on a dare, that great movies can be made without dialogue, color, explosions, nudity or aliens. Despite the rating, kids 10 years old and up will be able to appreciate this little gem, though it’s slow pace may leave them less enamored than you. (PG-13: mature themes and crude gesture). 1 hour and 40 minutes.

Ratings (out of 4 stars):

Overall: 3½ stars

Kids: 2 stars

Teens: 2½ stars

Adults: 3½ stars

Seniors: 4 stars

Should you watch it? Yes — minimalist genius in full monochromatic display.

“21 Jump Street”

Loosely based on the 1980s Fox TV drama of the same name, Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum star as recent graduates of the police academy sent back to high school to work undercover.

The mismatched partners are on the hunt for a drug dealer distributing lethal narcotics to students, but the youthful looking pair struggle with even the most rudimentary aspects of police work.

Known as the show that launched Johnny Depp’s career, the mysterious actor makes a bizarre cameo, as do other alumni from the old series. This is noteworthy in that it does nothing to make the film any better.

This updated “Jump Street” tries to have it all: a comedy with a message, packed with action. But you’re smart enough to know Swiss-army type films rarely work as intended.

The humor is just what you’d expect from a movie starring Hill: self-conscious, sexually repressed and foul-mouthed. None of those things are inherently bad; the problem is that Hill’s delivery of them has become tired. The cops and robbers scenes are also substandard, more befitting a cable movie.

Teens may be more tolerant of the film’s failings, but anyone who enjoyed the TV show during its original run will be disappointed.

Best for kids 13 years old and up. (R: violence, language, drugs, sexual themes). 1 hour and 49 minutes.

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